Skip to main content

TRL launches VR blind spot detector

UK-based research establishment TRL has launched a blind spot simulator rig which uses virtual reality to improve truck cab design, road layouts and improve the safety of road users and reduce costs for designers. The precision of the system is based on a physical rig developed by TRL and Volvo. It ensures an accurate representation of direct vision from a real-life Volvo vehicle cab which allows seat, steering and wheel adjustments to be replicated for each driver.
October 6, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

UK-based research establishment 491 TRL has launched a blind spot simulator rig which uses virtual reality to improve truck cab design, road layouts and improve the safety of road users and reduce costs for designers.

The precision of the system is based on a physical rig developed by TRL and 609 Volvo. It ensures an accurate representation of direct vision from a real-life Volvo vehicle cab which allows seat, steering and wheel adjustments to be replicated for each driver. The VR experience is then reconfigured to reflect their physical dimensions and individual seat positions - which results in an accurate replication of driving a real vehicle.

Ceki Erginbas, senior researcher at TRL, said: "With this calibrated system, we can accurately test new vehicles or road environment designs, without the need to physically build them. We can also accurately recreate traffic accidents, from the viewpoint of different people located at the scene.  

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ertico weaves tunnel visions into the ‘big picture’
    April 7, 2017
    As he takes the wheel at Ertico - ITS Europe, Jacob Bangsgaard talks to ITS International about the challenges and opportunities facing the organisation and the ITS industry. Ertico - ITS Europe’s new CEO, Jacob Bangsgaard, is no stranger to the organisation having spent five years there before moving to the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) in 2006. Four years later he became director general of the FIA’s Region I (EMEA), which represents more than 100 mobility clubs, and in 2012 he joined Er
  • Ertico weaves tunnel visions into the ‘big picture’
    April 7, 2017
    As he takes the wheel at Ertico - ITS Europe, Jacob Bangsgaard talks to ITS International about the challenges and opportunities facing the organisation and the ITS industry. Ertico - ITS Europe’s new CEO, Jacob Bangsgaard, is no stranger to the organisation having spent five years there before moving to the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) in 2006. Four years later he became director general of the FIA’s Region I (EMEA), which represents more than 100 mobility clubs, and in 2012 he joined Er
  • VRU safety report urges enforcement
    March 18, 2020
    Enforcement must be at the heart of a drive to reduce vulnerable road user deaths and injuries, says the latest report from the European Transport Safety Council. Its facts and figures give authorities the justification to invest more in camera technology and other ITS solutions
  • US eyes European model for Illinois toll road upgrade
    May 30, 2014
    David Crawford welcomes the adoption of European-style ITS technology by the US. The Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Illinois, US is well on the way towards becoming a ‘smart traffic corridor’, taking full advantage of active traffic management (ATM or ‘managed lanes’) technology that originated in Europe. It is one of the first American toll roads to do so; preliminary work began in 2014 and will continue through to 2016. Jane Addams is one of four toll roads operated by the publicly-owned Illinois State T